# Emitting Sounds

The core of Cagire is emitting sounds. Every step script builds up sound commands and emits them to the audio engine.

## The Sound Register

Before emitting, you must select a sound source using `sound` (or its alias `s`):

```forth
"kick" sound
"kick" s       ( same thing, shorter )
```

This sets the current sound register. All subsequent parameter words modify this sound until you emit or clear it.

## Emitting

The `.` word emits the current sound:

```forth
"kick" s .     ( emit one kick )
"kick" s . . . ( emit three kicks )
```

Use `.!` to emit multiple times:

```forth
"kick" s 4 .!  ( emit four kicks )
```

## Clearing

The `clear` word resets the sound register and all parameters:

```forth
"kick" s 0.5 gain . clear "hat" s .
```

This is useful when you want to emit different sounds with independent parameters in the same step.

## Words

| Word | Stack | Description |
|------|-------|-------------|
| `sound` / `s` | (name --) | Set sound source |
| `.` | (--) | Emit current sound |
| `.!` | (n --) | Emit current sound n times |
| `clear` | (--) | Clear sound register and params |